Moderna said May 3 it will supply up to 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Covax, the initiative co-led by the World Health Organization to ensure equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution across the globe.
The first 34 million doses are to be delivered by the end of this year, with the rest to be delivered throughout 2022.
The deal covers 92 low- and middle-income countries. Moderna, which is based in Massachusetts, said the vaccines would be provided at the "lowest-tiered price," but didn't specify what that price is.
"Covax has now shipped almost 50 million doses of vaccine to 121 countries and economies, but we continue to face serious supply constraints," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, director of the WHO, said at a news conference, The New York Times reported. "Solving this dilemma demands courageous leadership from the world's largest economies."